Our Heritage

We spent the morning in Golspie, walking around some of Alison's old haunts.

Pleasant breakfast time at the Stag's Head Hotel, Golspie

About the only part of Golspie that has actually changed in 50 years--the Sea Wall

Alison used to walk along the wall (it was a real, raised concrete wall then, about 2 feet high and a foot or so wide, with no barricade on top--perfect for skipping along) on way home from school sometimes.

Roger and Ben taking in a moment of sun

Beyond this point (right), at the bend in the bay, there used to be a rather narrow sewage pipe that jutted out into the sea. It was such fun to see whose plimsolled feet could grip it all the way to the end, and whose...Ha ha.

Oh, the adventures we had as "bairns" around Golspie, Sutherland! I was sorry that this time the weather prevented us from enjoying a wee trip on foot up past the Mill and through the canyon beyond. The vistas and glories there are unsurpassed and indescribable (and May is usually a fine month to see them). Here you have the first good reason to RETURN to Scotland!!

Alison had to be snapped here because up on hill in background is HER school, the old Golspie Senior Secondary that she attended from 3rd grade. Imagine a whole wall of window after a Glasgow schoolroom with just a few high windows that you couldn't see out of! In foreground is the lawn bowling-green, smooth as silk, where old guys enjoyed playing their "bowls" ...

Dr. Ian Pennie's lovely home and "surgery"

I would stay over with Dr. Ian Pennie's older daughter, Triona, occasionally, and the good doctor would come out with his bagpipes and stride around, playing for us. On left of this dyke was a privacy hedge of holly about 30 feet high.

Sutherland home

My friend Rosemary "Plum Sutherland" lived here. (The nickname "Plum" distinguished the family from so very many others of the same surname. Our classmate boys would call Rosemary's granny "The Prune"!) Rosemary's dad, Bertie Plum, was the local electrical contractor (maybe he had been a plumber?) and he provided his family wth a level of luxury we would swoon over but not really envy--a huge nursery filled with toys; garden birthday parties with Laurel & Hardy and a movie of the previous year's party; pure silk clothes . . . Bertie brought home the first fridge and the first TV of the village, both of which Rosemary and I made full use of! But there had been tragedy in the family: my friend's older brother had fallen out of their car while en route somewhere and did not survive. No seatbelts in those days.

Park facing either direction here! This may be a fishing village but car models are up-to-the-minute.

Homes and shops alike line the street flush with the sidewalk.

Don't let the sun fool you...it poured rain off and on

This (on right) used to be a haberdashery where I bought new baby Victoria in 1953 a tiny pair of pink socks and a tiny gilded model of the Queen's coronation coach! All the shops are still here but most have changed hands! This is now a shop that supports a single cause.

Scottish bank

This is still the same guid Scottish bank of 50 years ago! Trees on left begin the row where we would climb up and hide silently in the dark while Brown and Tawny Owl (our Brownie leaders) walked home underneath--then jump down and play mischief on the street residents. Naughty, naughty . . .

Cooperative where Alison would buy her Elvis Presley single recordings (vinyl)

What excitement! I would secrete a radio under the covers and enjoy all the latest pop tunes in bed. When we were young teens a friend would invite us to her house to watch the Top 10 program on TV.

Bonus from our stay at the Stag's Head Hotel--expert piping practice

Sutherland Technical School, where Grandpa James Turner taught

Grandpa James Turner taught commercial subjects for girls. He was very fast at shorthand and had used that at his Saturday morning reporter job at the Glasgow Saturday Post (so Grandma could go to a private school--if she'd only known and had some say, she'd have kept him home on Saturday mornings and gone to the local one). He'd considered becoming a court reporter at one point, and also a CPA, but in the end did a wonderful job of teaching young ladies.

We made a pit stop in Dornoch hoping to get some souvenir shopping done at Jail Dornoch, but only came out with a few postcards. The cathedral across the street provided some special "treats"--church mice and ornate cards--and Alison's china thimble!

Dornoch Cathedral, founded by King David, 1200s
(Grandpa James' fine voice rang out in The Messiah here.)

Then it was off to see Rogart and friends of the Turner family.

Glorious gorse spring hillside in the Highlands

Alison's home as a teenager

Good shot of west side of Norgate House, the Turners' granite home in Rogart from 1956 on. We are standing outside "the cottage" where Granny Jessica taught the Girl Guides and where we ran "Rogart Rural Crafts", Mother's brain-child. The main house (3 stories) is farthest right. The hill on opposite side of valley is where Alison had her first job at age 15, helping keep baby fir trees clear of tough, ferny bracken plants. Can you see her using that sickle?

Last year's tough brown bracken stems and fronds being pierced by beautiful wild spring primroses

Field next door to Norgate House

We found and ate mushrooms in this field in 1957 while Father James was very ill from bacteria in our hillside water source. We didn't join him so I guess they were the edible sort.

Key belonging to the front door

In the main hoose, the stairs look the same now as they did when we lived there. I was adept at leaping down about six stairs at a time from her attic bedroom homework station whenever the peal of the dinner bell was heard!

Current owners converted one of the attic rooms
(with sloping walls like Alison's) into a second bathroom

The old huge flagstone kitchen floor

Here's a remnant that made me feel at home--the old huge flagstone kitchen floor, now retained only in the "scullery" (a room adjoining the main kitchen where were the double, deep washing sinks and a larder for perishables, plus exit to the back green).

Pastoral scene looking west from Norgate House

To right of picture, up by hill, I used to like to watch two types of wild carnivorous plants; and in woods towards rear etc. we gathered hazelnuts and wild "cepe" mushrooms to eat; wild plums for jam in the bushes to the left. It was in this sheepfield (foreground) that I first learned to drive a car! Guess Father didn't trust me on the road, for shame! (Well, it did take me four times to pass the test!)

Hey, you can actually see some of the conifers that Alison helped keep alive on the far slope
"Yoicks, the trees are almost as old as Alison!"

In the middle ground are a few small cottages. In one of these lived the local weaver. Alison would listen to the clack-clack of his loom on summer evenings. Mother Jessica bought tartan wool cloth from him.

A few homes have sprung up in 50 years!

Notice the "dry stane dyke" typical of Sutherland (no mortar!)

Alison catching up with Carol McKay Grant

What fun to catch up with one of my two best teenage friends, Carol McKay Grant. What fun we used to have traipsing up hill and down dale to get to Girl Guides when they were held at the village school in the hills. Carol, a Rogart girl from a large, happy family, married one of the twins who ran the village store (he died of cancer) and she ran the one-room Rogart schoolhouse very well for many years. She's a very enthusiastic dancer still. We first saw her home, then we set off for Lairg, since the cafe in Rogart was closed.

Fluffy lamb up near Carol's at Rehmusaig, Rogart

Roger and the headless woman in the Lairg tweed shop

Old school buddy's restaurant in Lairg, with venerable Kaye Murray of Rogart

Attractive eats

Very enlightened and delicious food available in Lairg nowadays...love this one!

Three old buddies and Roger

Hugh Corbett's smart Pier Restaurant, Lairg

George Murray (friend of Father James') Alison, Kaye Murray (tested her for
Girl Guide Child Nurse badge), and Carol McKay Grant

George Murray's elderly dad was the oldest music "precentor" (song leader) in the Church of Scotland while I was the youngest organist, back in 1956. We got interviewed for radio.

Remember how...er...warm it was?

Saying goodbye to the "homeland" and back to the Pitlochry for the night. Some of us struggled to enjoy the back country, scenic tour of the Scottish Highlands.